Bill Belichick had faith on fourth down

Tuesday

Sep 29, 2009 at 12:01 AMSep 29, 2009 at 1:07 PM

Glen Farley

It was 2 yards amidst a cloud of trust.

“We had confidence in the play, confidence that we were going to be able to do what we need to do there to stay on the field,” New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said a day after he’d opted to go for a fourth-and-one from his own 24 with his team clinging to a six-point, third-quarter lead over the Atlanta Falcons at Gillette Stadium. “I really wasn’t trying to send a message to anybody as much as just trying to get a first down.”

Belichick may not have been trying to send a message to anybody, but Fred Taylor, who ran for 105 yards in the game, believes one was received once Sammy Morris picked up the first down

“It pumps you up, in my opinion, from the standpoint of once you execute and once you make it, looking across the field it really (ticks) the defensive players off and you get to put a little smile on your face and start playing those type mind games when they’re thinking, ‘If we just make this stop, we get to get back on the bench and rest for a while,’” said Taylor. “But when you make it you get the last laugh so to speak.”

The successful conversion allowed the Patriots to execute a 16-play, 70-yard drive that concluded with Stephen Gostkowski’s fourth field goal of the day, a 33-yarder that made it a two-possession game (19-10) early in the fourth quarter of a game they went on to win, 26-10

“The question there is whether you feel like you could pick up a foot or do you want to give the ball back to (Falcons quarterback) Matt Ryan and (running back Michael) Turner and (wide receiver Roddy) White and (tight end Tony) Gonzalez and their offensive line,” said Belichick. “Those are your two choices. It’s probably not something that you’d want to do on a weekly basis.”

To this point in the season, though, the Patriots have attempted fourth-down conversions on a weekly basis, a challenge that’s proven to be a 50-50 proposition for them.

Oh-for-3 over the first two weeks, the Pats were a perfect 3-for-3 on Sunday.

The tone was set early this season, on their very first possession in fact, when the Patriots attempted to convert a fourth-and-one from the Buffalo 40 only to see Laurence Maroney denied by the Bills linebacker Keith Ellison and nose tackle Kyle Williams.

On the cusp of field-goal range, the Patriots attempted to convert a fourth-and-two from the Buffalo 36 in the third quarter of that 25-24 win, but a short Tom Brady pass intended for Wes Welker fell incomplete.

Trailing, 16-9, with a minute-and-change left, the Patriots had no choice but to go for it on fourth-and-10 from their own 28 against the New York Jets in Week Two. In that situation, a Brady pass for Joey Galloway was broken up by cornerback Dwight Lowery.

On Sunday, the Patriots converted twice on the aforementioned drive, from their own 24 and again on fourth-and-three from the Atlanta 37 when Randy Moss hauled in a 21-yard strike from Brady down the right sideline.

Another Brady-Moss hookup, this one an 8-yarder, picked up a fourth-and-one at the Atlanta 33 inside the two-minute warning, allowing the Patriots to run out the clock.

None of the other five decisions begins to approach Belichick’s roll of the dice in the third quarter of Sunday’s game, however.

“I don’t even want to know,” guard Logan Mankins answered when asked what might have transpired this week had the Patriots failed to execute in that situation. “I hope we never have to find out.”

Coming, Going

The Patriots signed defensive tackle Terdell Sands, who is listed as 6-7 and 335 pounds, and released linebacker Prescott Burgess on Monday.

Drafted by Kansas City in the seventh round of the 2001 draft, Sands never played in a game for the Chiefs. He appeared in one game with Green Bay in 2003, then went on to make 128 tackles in 75 games with Oakland from 2003-2008.

At the very least, Sands could serve as an insurance policy up front after both Vince Wilfork and Mike Wright were shaken up.

Belichick offered no update on Wilfork, who appeared to sprain his left ankle in the second quarter of the game.

Meanwhile, linebacker Jerod Mayo, who sprained his right medial collateral ligament in the Sept. 13 opener with the Bills, made his way through the locker room during the media’s access period at mid-afternoon on Monday without the aid of crutches and with no limp.

HOME INVADED?

Cornerback Jonathan Wilhite was scratched from Sunday’s game following an apparent invasion of his North Attleboro home.

North Attleboro police Lt. David Dawes told The Providence Journal, which first reported the matter Monday afternoon, that the department is investigating “an incident involving a Patriots player” that occurred over the weekend.

During his weekly appearance on Boston radio station WEEI late Monday afternoon, Belichick would only say that Wilhite “had a little mishap Sunday morning.”

Wilhite made his way through the Patriots’ locker room during the media’s access period showing no signs of any physical injury.

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